Ancestors

Written by ink and yarn on 2025-01-13 at 14:01

The Hardhat Beanie is my first finished project of 2025! The leftovers are going towards contrasting cuffs/heels/toes on the next pair of socks.

https://www.knittingpirate.com/2025/01/13/in-which-the-pirate-knits-yet-another-hat/

[#]Knitting #OperationSockDrawer #KnittingPirate

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Written by Chris Huck :freecad: :ubuntu: on 2025-01-13 at 19:56

@emery Do you use merino wool for your knitting?

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Written by ink and yarn on 2025-01-13 at 20:26

@chrishuck Sometimes! And I spin it too. :)

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Written by Chris Huck :freecad: :ubuntu: on 2025-01-13 at 21:26

@emery Awesome! If you’re trying to fill your sock drawer with hand knit socks, nothing beats merino wool. :)

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Written by ink and yarn on 2025-01-14 at 03:27

@chrishuck The sock yarn I like best is a 75/25 blend of superwash wool and nylon. I did knit a pair early on with 100% merino and they felted pretty quickly. Oops.

The ones that I just noticed are getting thin are from 2011; I think 14 years is a pretty good run for a pair of socks :)

Different breeds of sheep have wool with different qualities - and not all merino is the same, either! The rabbithole here is deep.

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Toot

Written by Chris Huck :freecad: :ubuntu: on 2025-01-14 at 03:33

@emery Interesting. Though, I have some Smartwool socks that are probably pushing 14 years… I pretty much only wear wool socks year round. Once I had good ones, I couldn’t go back. :)

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Descendants

Written by ink and yarn on 2025-01-14 at 03:46

@chrishuck My guess is that the Smartwool socks have some percentage of nylon in them, too. But yeah - wool socks are the BEST. Especially ones that were custom-knit to fit perfectly.

There's always a tossup between softness and durability when it comes to wool. And staple length, which is the length of each individual fibre - shorter tends to get fuzzy, but sometimes you want fuzzy. Was the wool combed or carded before spinning? Were the fleeces graded before processing, or carded/combed together and spun as a batch?And then there's how it's spun - is it a loose and lofty yarn or one with tighter twist?

...maybe I need to ply the singles I've spun so I can work on the next spinning project, eh? Seems I am ready to dive back down this rabbithole.

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